Explaining gender-specific trends in income mobility: the role of education
Abstract
Abstract Rising income inequality has aroused widespread concern about potential decreases in intergenerational income mobility. Recent research reveals that income mobility has remained stable among men while declining among women, though the reasons for these disparities remain unclear. This study explores whether gender-specific mobility trends can be explained by gender differences in changes in educational inequality and returns to education. Using Swedish register data for cohorts born between 1958 and 1979, this study confirms gender-specific trends: the intergenerational rank association in income has decreased and then stabilized for men while increasing steadily for women. Decomposition analyses of mobility trends indicate that, for men, decreased educational inequality was the primary factor driving increased income mobility, while returns to education were stable and had limited effects. For women, decreased educational inequality also increased mobility, but this was counteracted by rising direct income associations net of education across cohorts and increasing educational returns among younger cohorts. In summary, through rising educational returns, education has increasingly driven women’s intergenerational income persistence but not men’s. These findings offer new insights into the role of education in driving changes in income mobility within the broader context of evolving gender equality.
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Record history
| When | Event | Field | Old | New |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-18 19:37:53.011249+00:00 | identifier_assigned | DSEID | DSEID-000-2348479 |